Lisbon - last full day as tourists

It has been fun to blip every day again, but when I get home I’ll revert to the ‘when I have something good to share’ mentality!

So today has been a big one. I’ll add some photos to my extras. We had booked a full day tour online to Sintra, with Modern Tours (info for blipper friend John). We took a while to decide on it, as it was £85 each, but in the end decided to go with it - and we are so glad we did. We met at a central Lisbon location, easy to find, at 8.45am. Were put in our group with 5 others (a Swiss couple, Australian couple and an American guy) then met our guide Adam who showed us to our roomy Citroen minibus.

Then off we went to Sintra. Our guide spoke non stop about the history of the town, as he drove. There was a lot of traffic but we got there by 10. The town is basically on a hill with a one way system of narrow steep very winding roads up, then back down. At the top is the Pena palace, many kings had lived here. Google more if you need to know. We parked and went in via the bottom entrance, through the incredible gardens. Built by various kings and queens. We had historical information overload, but couldn’t fault Adam. It was a climb up through the gardens to the palace. Entrance to gardens and palace all included in the price.

Then a tour of the palace and views over the surrounding area. It was lavish inside, and again I was taken by the beautiful tiling which adorns the buildings.

By 1pm we were heading back down the windy roads for an hour stop in Sintra town. We found a place for coffee and a cake.

Back in the van to drive on to Cascais a rich people’s haven. There we had a 90 minute stop to explore. We queued for a nice ice cream, then browsed the shops, before heading to a bar for cocktails.

The other people in our tour were lovely and we all got on really well. We got home to be dropped off at 6.40. A very full day.

A quick change then out for dinner in the restaurant we went to Saturday- they had given us 20% off vouchers! That worked to get us back!

Now packing, ready for our return home tomorrow after what has been an amazing 5 day trip with my 2 wonderful friends.

I’ve taken a lot of photos. Will try to upload a few more interesting ones!